Suspect in arsons labeled ecoterrorism set to plead guilty

PORTLAND — A woman who turned herself in after a decade as a fugitive in the nation's largest ecoterrorism investigation is scheduled to enter guilty pleas on Oct. 10.

PORTLAND — A woman who turned herself in after a decade as a fugitive in the nation's largest ecoterrorism investigation is scheduled to enter guilty pleas on Oct. 10.

Court records show 39-year-old Rebecca Rubin will change her not-guilty pleas to charges of conspiracy and arson in U.S. District in Portland.

A federal indictment accuses Rubin of being a member of cells of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front known as The Family. Investigators blame the group based in Eugene for 20 fires across the West from 1996 to 2001 that did $40 million in damage.

Among the group's targets were a ski resort in Colorado, wild horse corrals in Oregon and Northern California, U.S. Forest Service offices in Oregon, and lumber mills and the offices of a Medford timber company, U.S. Forest Industries.

Rubin has been in custody since surrendering to the FBI last November at the Canadian border with Washington state. At the time, her lawyer said she wanted to get the case behind her.